The first ever women’s knock-out competition staged by the ASA this year was won by Neptunes.

Four teams took part, with the Reds beating Sirens 21-2 in the first semi-final and San Ġiljan having the better of Sliema 14-11 (after extra time and penalties).

In the final, Neptunes again proved to be a vastly superior outfit when beating the Saints 18-3.

Best scorers for Neptunes in the competition were Gail Rizzo, with 11 goals, followed by nine from Italian Maddalena Musumeci who was a gold medal winner in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games when Italy beat Greece 10-9.

Meanwhile, Steve Camilleri, scorer so far this year of 98 goals in all competitions in Italy and Malta, was instrumental in helping RN Bogliasco reach the second phase of the Coppa Italia.

In fact, Camilleri scored five goals in Bogliasco’s three matches to finish joint top-scorer for the Italian top-division side. Bogliasco lost to Posillipo 9-6 but then won against CC Napoli 12-10 and SS Lazio 12-9.

As far as the national team is concerned their next competitive commitment in the 2014 European Championship is next month when they will play in round three of the qualification tournament between November 7 and 10 in Portugal.

They will be in Group G comprising Georgia, Slovenia, Portugal, Belarus and Switzerland.

The players, under head coach Karl Izzo, are undergoing intensive preparation and will probably play a series of friendly matches prior to their Euro matches.

Last week a Maltese selection under the name of Valletta were involved in the Champions League Qualification Round One Group A matches in Naples against HAVK Mladest (Croatia 5-16), CN Marseille (France 5-17), Schuuman BZC Borculo (Netherlands 9-25), Sintez Kazan (Russia 5-29) and Aquachiara (Italy 14-21).